Bowsite.com

Housing facilities were very good. Rooms were in good shape, spacious and comfortable. The kitchen was well equipped and served the cooking purpose well. However, had to bring own bedding.

The property where the hunt took place is the best I've ever seen (outside of the Rocky Mountains). The terrain, forestation, creek bottoms, meadows, briar patches, etc. were ideal for a hunt setting. The area was spacious (1200 acres) and had many locations to hunt. This property has a whole lot of potential.

Fortunate for us, we met Kit Mowdy upon our arrival. Kit was very warm, friendly and was as helpful as she was able. Had it not been for Kit we would have been waiting around for a couple hours to be greeted by the camp host as he (Keith West), was not at the facility. Kit was able to contact Keith to find out which room we were to stay in. When shown the room it was in disarray from previous occupants.

When Keith did arrive we had to seek him out to find out what the plan was for our stay. Keith was a personable enough guy, but he gave no orientation. We were sort of "left in the dark" as to what was to go on during our hunt. We had to seek out any information through questioning in regard to what was the plan for our hunt. When our questioning began Keith gave a look of amazement as if to say "doesn't everybody know that?"

Keith West's communication style didn't connect with our hunt party. His conversations focused on his own hunt stories and experiences, which didn't even relate to Bow Safari but from hunts in the Midwest and Canada. Conversations of previous hunts on the property would have been much more relevant. It appeared he was trying to sell himself instead of Bow Safari and perhaps there may not be any good hunt stories to tell about Bow Safari. Like the old saying goes "You can't polish a turd."

When we signed up for the hunt we were given misconceptions about the hog situation. We were led to believe there were big hogs, but we saw no evidence of that. The two evenings we were on stand we saw just over 80 pigs, but they were all small immature animals. The last evening my son did have three 60-pound hogs come to the feeder. Not the 200+ pounders we thought would be there. A group of 4 hunters that came just before us only harvested one pig (176#). Not the premier hog hunting we believed we would experience.

Keith told us that the previous manager ran the place into the ground. It appeared to us that Clay and Keith are in a reconstruction phase to rebuild the pig hunting on the ranch, which is understandable. Someday this will be a good location, but NOT now. Currently this is not a premier hunting experience they talk to in their web site.

We experienced considerable lack of professionalism in the operating of the hunts. In our opinion, when you own and operate a hunting enterprise client satisfaction should be the number one focus. To demonstrate the host and staff should go the extra mile to ensure the clients harvest a pig or have a fulfilling experience even if they don't. Instead we perceived a lack luster attitude and that not all efforts were taken to ensure us a quality hunt. Keith was pre-occupied with other duties around the ranch. It was like we were an after thought rather than the primary focus... the paying client.

In summary, this ranch has a good housing facility and fantastic geography with potential to someday be a good hunting location. However, from our recent experience this ranch is not a premier hunting facility as it lacks large pigs and the operational professionalism to turn an unsuccessful hunt into an enjoyable quality experience.

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - NO